Task force unveils plan to overhaul special education
A statewide task force unveiled Friday a 222-page plan to dramatically improve education for students with disabilities, described as the crucial next step in education reform in California.
With schools in the state in the throes of adjusting to three new education reforms – the switch to local school district control over spending, the introduction of Common Core State Standards, and the roll-out of new student assessments – the Statewide Task Force on Special Education is calling for a greater integration of much of special education into the education system, including teacher training, early interventions, the use of evidence-based practices and data tracking.
“Instead of opening the door to a brighter future, special education for many students is a dead end,” states the report, “One System: Reforming Education to Serve All Students.”
Among the recommendations are a “common trunk” of preparation curricula for teachers and special education teachers, the equalization of funding for special education students across the state and state payment of costs now borne by districts for preschool for young children with significant disabilities.
Left unclear is where the funding will come from for interventions for infants to 3-year-olds, preschool for more students, and additional professional development for teachers, as well as recommendations that new facilities be designed to place special education classrooms in close proximity to other classrooms to allow peers to mingle. The report stated the early interventions would “save billions of dollars.”
While the report, titled “One System: Reforming Education to Serve All Students,” calls for the “seamless integration” of special education services into schools, Vicki Barber, co-executive director of the task force, made it clear in a February presentation that special education services and protections would not be diminished and that separate schools for students with relatively rare disabilities, such as blindness, would continue.
“This is not a restatement of the law, and not restatement of regulations,” Barber said. “This doesn’t take away any rights or any options for students.”
But the changes in how, when and by whom special education services are provided requires a shift in thinking about nearly every aspect of special education, from teacher training to funding, according to the report from the task force, a group formed in 2013 to study special education services and recommend changes in policy and practice. The genesis of the task force came from two longtime leaders in education, Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education, and Linda Darling-Hammond, chairwoman of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
Teacher training will include more preparation in reading and language arts interventions and special education teachers will earn Task force unveils plan to overhaul special education | EdSource:
